Drug could make curative transplant safer for bone marrow cancer patients

This study is testing whether giving the drug ruxolitinib before, during, and after a stem cell transplant can reduce dangerous complications and improve survival for people with myelofibrosis, a serious bone marrow cancer. A stem cell transplant is currently the only treatment with the potential to cure this disease, but it carries a high risk of graft-versus-host disease, where the donor cells attack the patient's body. Researchers hope that ruxolitinib, which calms inflammation, will lower this risk and help more patients successfully complete the transplant.